Paying for things with a traditional credit card may feel normal today, but what's it going to feel like in 20 years? 30? Will those thin slips of plastic still be around? Mobile payments haven't exactly skyrocketed to mainstream success, particularly in the United States, but it seems that the trends are changing...Read more...
Well, Wal-Mart may be having trouble keeping up with iTunes as far as being the top music retailer, but it doesn't have iTunes as a competitor among video games. Thus, we are where we are ...eMarketer.com conducted a survey of 2,000 gamers aged 12 to 54, dubbed "Are You Game?" It found that Wal-Mart was the most visited retailer for...Read more...
Recent tests have shown that the third Chrome beta version offers faster performance than previous iterations. In these tests, Google Chrome's latest version, 0.3.154.9, shows a 37% improvement in JavaScript performance over the initial beta that was released two months ago.Using Google's JavaScript benchmark, the first beta scored 1,851;...Read more...
This week there seems to be a subtle (or not so subtle) leaking of Intel Core i7 "ecosystem" supporting products from Intel's various manufacturing partners. In keeping with the buzz that will soon culminate into the launch of Intel's next gen platform, EVGA sends word and a few choice snaps of their HOT new X58 SLI FTW motherboard....Read more...
Traditional hard disk storage is living on borrowed time. We know it and storage manufacturers know it. Solid state drives, which use non-volatile memory chips instead of rotating metal discs for storing data, are simply a better medium in the long run. They consume less power, create nearly zero heat, and produce no noise – but best of all,...Read more...
Traditional hard disk storage is living on borrowed time. We know it and storage manufacturers know it. Solid state drives, which use non-volatile memory chips instead of rotating metal discs for storing data, are simply a better medium in the long run. They consume less power, create nearly zero heat, and produce no noise – but best...Read more...
FIRST DETAILS ON A FUTURE INTEL DESIGN CODENAMED ‘LARRABEE’ Intel Corporation is presenting a paper at the SIGGRAPH 2008 industry conference in Los Angeles on Aug. 12 that describes features and capabilities of its first-ever forthcoming “many-core” blueprint or architecture codenamed “Larrabee.” Details unveiled in the SIGGRAPH paper...Read more...
Even in the age of green computing and lower power 45nm silicon manufacturing technologies, thermal management, specifically heat mitigation, continues to be a challenge . Maybe you're a dyed-in-the-wool overclocker or perhaps a silent computing buff that wants things whisper-quiet. Then again, even...Read more...
Delivering the World’s First Truly Affordable High-Performance SSD for Consumers at Price Points Less than 50% of Comparable High Performance SSDs Sunnyvale, CA—July 1, 2008—OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and computer components, today unveiled the OCZ Core Series...Read more...
You'll recall last week NVIDIA announced that its 177.39 drivers would provide PhysX support on the GeForce 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, and GTX 260/280 cards. You'll also probably recall the big dust-up over whether or not NVIDIA was cheating in terms of optimizations for various benchmarks. Whether or not you believe that (read their response here),...Read more...
Starcraft II was announced in May 2007, and Korea went wild. While it may just be coincidence that a number of etailers have posted ship dates for Starcraft II, and that they all picked the same date, is it also a coincidence that Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational Event takes place in Paris on June 28 and 29 this week?Many froth-mouthed fans...Read more...
The Data Center, HotHardware's new community for IT professionals, is sponsored by Dell's Future of Storage. This article is part of our ongoing series of topics and discussions related to IT, Enterprise Storage and related storage technologies. When it comes to Supercomputing, historically, the top dog on the circuit has been IBM's BlueGene/L...Read more...
The folks over at Skype are hoping that you want to be a beta tester. Starting today, Skype 4.0 Beta 1 for Windows goes into public beta, and there are a number of significant changes in the new version. The most noticeable transformation from the existing client to the new beta is a much lager default video window for video calls. (Skype...Read more...
We told you about Dell's attempt to get in on the mini-notebook market a little while ago. Just a glimpse of the lipstick red competitor for the wildly successful Asus Eee PC sent us all into a tizzy. After all, we keep telling manufacturers over and over again we want a smaller, cheaper, sturdier unit to lug around with us that can...Read more...
A few weeks ago, we showed you some pictures of what was supposed to be the ASUS Eee Box desktop PC. Initially, the images evoked mixed reactions from readers. Some thought the Eee Box looked just like a Nintendo Wii, while others questioned whether or not the images were real at all.In the weeks that followed, more news regarding...Read more...
ENEMY TERRITORY: QUAKE WARS™ FOR NEXT-GEN CONSOLESINVADES RETAIL STORES NATIONWIDESANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The alien invasion has begun with the announcement that id Software’s Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars™ published by Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from...Read more...
BioWare has produced numerous hit games over the years, and as such they’ve probably suffered more than the average company at the hands of pirates. As a result the company has decided to use SecuROM for some of their upcoming titles, and Technical Director Derek French provides some details: “Mass Effect uses SecuROM and requires an online...Read more...
Mac users represent a small percentage of computer users--about three percent worldwide. But if Mac sales are any indication--up 51 percent in the last year--the number of Mac users are growing rapidly. One of the reasons for this is that all new Macs can also run Windows, allowing users to have access to both operating systems simultaneously...Read more...
Linux is finally starting to make inroads into mainstream computing, as evidenced by the Eee PC and the HP Mini-Note ultraportable laptops. It should come as no surprise that vendors are starting to embrace Linux with open arms, due to its low-cost of entry. VIA Technologies is the latest Linux lover with its launch of the VIA Linux Portal...Read more...
We know that Microsoft has set June 30th as the drop-dead date for Windows XP (despite their statements yesterday). Despite the fact that after June 30th, manufacturers such as Dell are not allowed to ship PCs with XP pre-installed, Dell has come up with an "escape clause."Dell will take advantage of a licensing option in Vista Business and...Read more...
It's been bandied around for some time: a subscription-based version of Microsoft Office, and on Friday, Microsoft launched just such a service, code-named Albany, in private beta form. Albany includes more than just Office, however.“Albany” is the codename for a new all-in-one subscription service of essential software and services...Read more...
Multi-socket Nehalems paired with MetaRAM could provide some jaw-dropping numbers. Here's a look at what dual-CPU boards might be able to accomplish:“Up to 16GB DDR3-1333 modules can be created, allowing up to 96GB RAM per CPU, or 192GB per dual-CPU board. If you go for slower DDR3-1066 and boards with three DIMMs per channel,- nine DIMMs...Read more...